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Nutrients
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Food Functional Factors and Nutritional Health
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Food Functional Factors and Nutritional Health

A special issue of Nutrients (ISSN 2072-6643). This special issue belongs to the section "Nutrition and Public Health".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 25 March 2026 | Viewed by 3036

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Guowei Le

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
State Key Laboratory of Food Science and Resources, School of Food Science and Technology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122, China
Interests: food nutrition and functional factors; metabolic health; processed foods; active peptides; food processing and extraction
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Bowen Li

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
College of Food Science, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China
Interests: gut nutrition and diseases; probiotics and prebiotics; microbiota; immunity; special medical foods
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to announce the upcoming Special Issue entitled "Food Functional Factors and Nutritional Health", which will focus on the impact of processing on the functional components of foods and the key role of food composition changes in how they affect human wellness, emphasizing the relationship between processing, components, and health.

Topics of interest for this Special Issue include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • Biological activities and health benefits of chemicals, vitamins, minerals, proteins, bioactive peptides, and dietary fibers found in functional foods or medicine–food homology.
  • The mechanisms by which probiotics, prebiotics, and synbiotics in functional foods modulate the human microbiome and contribute to nutritional health and disease resistance.
  • The role of functional foods and factors in addressing nutrient deficiencies and promoting optimal health across different life stages and populations.
  • Nutrient–gene interactions and their implications for personalized nutrition in the prevention and management of chronic conditions, including enhancive or protective effects against metabolic syndrome, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and other non-communicable diseases.

We invite submissions of original research articles, review papers, and meta-analyses that provide new insights, methodologies, or comprehensive reviews concerning the connections between food functional factors and nutritional health. We encourage contributions from a mix of disciplines, including food science and technology, nutrition science, nutrigenomics, public health, pharmacology, chemistry, and other related fields. By assembling the collection of multidisciplinary research, we aim to foster a deeper understanding of the nutritional virtues of functional foods and their significance in public health, as well as hope this Special Issue will catalyze more research and innovation in the field of food science and nutrition.

Prof. Dr. Guowei Le
Dr. Bowen Li
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Nutrients is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • biological activities
  • functional foods
  • microbiome
  • health conditions
  • personalized nutrition

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Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

19 pages, 2378 KiB  
Article
Effects of 12-Week Anti-Inflammatory Dietary Education on Depressive Symptoms Among Depressed Patients with Breast Cancer Undergoing Adjuvant Chemotherapy: A Randomized Controlled Trial
by Lan Cheng, Yue Chen, Jianyun He, Xinxin Cheng, Yuting Wang, Xiaoxia Lin, Zhenzhen Huang, Xinyi Miao and Shufang Xia
Nutrients 2025, 17(6), 957; https://doi.org/10.3390/nu17060957 - 9 Mar 2025
Viewed by 833
Abstract
Background: Depressive symptoms (DepS) are prevalent among patients with breast cancer. Offering an anti-inflammatory diet is a promising strategy for DepS management, but it is costly and difficult to scale up. Instead, anti-inflammatory dietary education is cost-effective and may be more conducive [...] Read more.
Background: Depressive symptoms (DepS) are prevalent among patients with breast cancer. Offering an anti-inflammatory diet is a promising strategy for DepS management, but it is costly and difficult to scale up. Instead, anti-inflammatory dietary education is cost-effective and may be more conducive to the promotion of an anti-inflammatory diet strategy. Methods: A prospective, assessor-blinded, two-arm randomized controlled trial was designed to determine the effects of 12-week anti-inflammatory dietary education on DepS in breast cancer patients with depression. Adult female patients with depression and receiving adjuvant chemotherapy were recruited. Participants in the intervention group received anti-inflammatory dietary education, while the control group received routine nursing care. Outcomes included the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) score, energy-adjusted dietary inflammatory index (E-DII), plasma inflammatory biomarkers, and quality of life (QoL), which were all assessed at baseline and after a 12-week follow-up. The robustness of the estimates was investigated through sensitivity analyses. A post hoc power analysis was conducted to establish the observed effect sizes for the primary outcomes. Results: A total of 88.6% (62/70) of the participants completed the entire 12-week follow-up. No statistically significant between-group differences were found in the baseline characteristics, including sociodemographic factors, disease-related characteristics, and lifestyle factors. After the intervention, both the CES-D score (p = 0.040) and E-DII (p < 0.001) in the intervention group were significantly lower than in the control group, while the QoL was significantly increased (p < 0.001). Compared with the baseline, the tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) (p = 0.002) and C-reactive protein (CRP) (p = 0.045) levels were significantly lower in the intervention group but not in the control group. Conclusions: Anti-inflammatory dietary education may improve DepS and QoL in breast cancer patients with depression and undergoing chemotherapy by regulating inflammation. Given its acceptability and practicality, this strategy may be incorporated into routine cancer care. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Food Functional Factors and Nutritional Health)
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Graphical abstract

23 pages, 7314 KiB  
Article
Camel Milk Protein Ameliorates Ulcerative Colitis by Modulating Gut Microbiota and Amino Acid Metabolism
by Ning Kang, Zhexin Fan, Li Yang, Jie Shen, Yuechenfei Shen, Zhifeng Fang, Baokun Li, Bo Yang and Jiancheng Wang
Nutrients 2025, 17(5), 780; https://doi.org/10.3390/nu17050780 - 24 Feb 2025
Viewed by 781
Abstract
The protective effects of the milk fat globule membrane (MFGM) in alleviating inflammation have been reported. However, limited attention has been paid to the key fraction of milk fat globule membrane protein (MFGMP). This study investigated the protective effects of camel MFGMP against [...] Read more.
The protective effects of the milk fat globule membrane (MFGM) in alleviating inflammation have been reported. However, limited attention has been paid to the key fraction of milk fat globule membrane protein (MFGMP). This study investigated the protective effects of camel MFGMP against dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced ulcerative colitis (UC) in mice. The results revealed that administering 50 mg/kg MFGMP significantly alleviated colonic inflammation, as evidenced by a marked decrease in IL-6, IL-1β, and TNF-α levels, along with pathological damage in DSS-induced mice with UC. MFGMP supplementation partially regulated gut microbiota dysbiosis in mice with UC by increasing α-diversity and the relative abundance of beneficial gut bacteria, such as Lactobacillus, while decreasing the abundance of Akkermansia. Additionally, MFGMP treatment exhibited significant regulatory effects on metabolites, particularly amino acid metabolism, in the feces. Specifically, this treatment restored L-valine to normal physiological levels and increased the concentrations of L-leucine, L-lysine, and L-tyrosine to nearly twice their baseline levels, whereas the concentration of L-tryptophan increased threefold. These upregulated amino acids were negatively correlated with pro-inflammatory cytokines and positively correlated with the anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10, as indicated by Spearman’s correlation analysis. Furthermore, the significant reduction in the mRNA expression levels of WNT-1, β-catenin, and Cyclin D1 suggests that MFGMP exerts a positive effect on UC via the Wnt/β-catenin pathway. These findings indicate that MFGMP exerts a protective effect against UC by modulating intestinal microbiota and amino acid metabolism in mice, with potential implications for treating intestinal inflammatory diseases. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Food Functional Factors and Nutritional Health)
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18 pages, 4382 KiB  
Article
Interventional Effects of Edible Bird’s Nest and Free Sialic Acids on LPS-Induced Brain Inflammation in Mice
by Nan Qian, Chen-Xi Zhang, Guan-Dong Fang, Shuang Qiu, Yu Song, Man Yuan, Dong-Liang Wang and Xiang-Rong Cheng
Nutrients 2025, 17(3), 531; https://doi.org/10.3390/nu17030531 - 31 Jan 2025
Viewed by 897
Abstract
Objectives: Our study investigated the effects and mechanisms of edible bird’s nest (EBN) and free sialic acids (SA) on LPS-induced brain inflammation in mice. Methods: The experiment divided the mice into four groups: control group (CON), lipopolysaccharide group (LPS), EBN intervention group [...] Read more.
Objectives: Our study investigated the effects and mechanisms of edible bird’s nest (EBN) and free sialic acids (SA) on LPS-induced brain inflammation in mice. Methods: The experiment divided the mice into four groups: control group (CON), lipopolysaccharide group (LPS), EBN intervention group (EBN, 200 mg/kg/d in dry EBN), and sialic acid intervention group (SA, dosage was calibrated based on the concentration of sialic acid in EBN). Results: The results showed that LPS caused a decrease followed by upregulation in body weight in female mice, and EBN exhibited renal protective effects. In the Morris water maze, the learning and memory abilities of mice in the LPS group first declined and then recovered. At the same time, the escape latency improved in the EBN and SA groups. In the Open field test, both the EBN and SA groups exhibited anti-anxiety and anti-depressive effects. Immunohistochemistry in the hippocampus showed significant cell damage in the LPS group, while the damage was alleviated in the EBN and SA groups. LPS promoted the expression of TICAM1 and MYD88 in the NF-κB pathway, while both the EBN and SA groups could inhibit the expression of TICAM1. Conclusions: The study has found that both EBN and SA exhibited noteworthy anti-inflammatory effects, indicating that the main active component in EBN that provides neuroprotective effects is SA. The bound SA in EBN confers additional effects, supporting the development of prevention and treatment strategies for brain inflammation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Food Functional Factors and Nutritional Health)
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